Bigger Stronger Leaner

Tip: Use These 3 Lifting Techniques to Burn Fat

Do finisher sets to torch more calories and reveal your muscle. Here's how.

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Turn your body into a calorie-torching furnace by extending the final set of your lifts. These "finisher sets" have always been a staple in bodybuilding because they allow you to get in more reps than a traditional straight set. Studies now show that these techniques also lead to fat loss with full muscle retention.

Rest-Pause Training

  1. Go to technical failure on your last set, where you can't get any more reps without your form breaking down.
  2. Take a 15-second break or 10 breaths.
  3. Pick the weight up again and go to technical failure.
  4. Put it down and take another 15-second break, followed by the final set.

Rest-pause sets are best used on assistance lifts and not main lifts because your form can degrade on bigger exercises like squats and deadlifts.

Back-Off Sets

Immediately after you finish your final set of an exercise, strip off 30-50% of the weight and then do as many reps with that weight as you can, aiming for 15-25. Since you should already be slightly tired from your previous sets, you won't be able to get as many reps with that weight as you would if you were fresh. Do these for either main or assistance exercises.

Drop Sets

Start with a weight you used for your work sets and get as many reps as possible before reaching technical failure. You should keep 1 rep "in the tank" in order to get the most out of this technique. Immediately after finishing, drop the weight 20-25% and rep out again. Three drops is ideal, with the final set taken to total failure with a weight that should be 50% of the starting weight.